As you probably already know, I am a beginner in sewing. I did some basic projects so far and every time I manage to make it a little bit prettier than the time before:) I still have a long way to go, but of course that doesn’t matter as long as you’re having fun, right?

I am not a huge fan of going shopping, because I find it hard to find those clothes that I really like and that fit my body shape properly. The idea of making your own clothes always attracted me, but I have to say that finding out how it works all by yourself is not that easy. So, go visit your mum, grandma, aunt, best friend or whoever else who has some experience and try the easy pattern below together! In the end I learned some tricks (that you won’t always think of immediately) by just listening to the right people.

If you know some Dutch, this website could help you in making your first summer skirt. I measured myself around the hips (you can also measure a bit higher if you want to wear your skirt differently) and multiplied this by 2.5. This is the length you will need to make the folds as you can see in the picture. Of course you can also take a bit more or a bit less, depending on how curvy you want the skirt to be.

Then, measure the height of the skirt. I picked 45cm+3cm for the bottom fold. You don’t need to make extra folds on top (unless you want to place an elastic band), because later you will sew a ribbon to it.

You cut out the rectangle and sew around with a border stitch to avoid the fabric to loose dreads (always do this, for whatever project you are doing!). If your fabric is not long enough, you cut out a second rectangle and you sew these two pieces together. Wait before closing it into a circle!

You can either use elastic on top, or (like I did) place a zipper. I used a 15 cm zipper that I sewed to both sides.

Calculate the distance between the folds. This is probably most of the work. I made 30 folds in both of the skirts. Take the full length of the skirt, divide this by 30 and place needles on that distance over the full length. Use more needles to block the folds and sew over them. Try the skirt on several times for the perfect fit. You can still adjust the folds if the skirt is too small or too big.

Fold the bottom 2 times and sew a line to block it.

For the top ribbon, you cut out a rectangle of fabric of at least 3x your hips measurement by 8cm in height. Fold the two short sides inwards and sew it. Fold the two long sides 1cm inward and iron it (don’t sew). Fold the border double alongside the long side (so now the height is 3cm) and iron it again. Place the ribbon over the full length of the skirt, leaving the tails of the ribbon where the zipper is. This was my ‘easy’ solution of closing the skirt nicely, but if you have better suggestions please let me know! Now, open the zipper and sew from begin to end in one line close to the border (so you actually sew the inner folds of the ribbon at the same time). Pay attention that you sew the overhangings of the zipper inside the ribbon.

I used some pictures and patterns as inspiration, but I’m quite a stubborn girl, so along the way I decided to make some changes here and there. Feel free to make your own adjustments and you will see that there are a lot of nice variations to make!

It has been silent for a while, but I can promise you that I have been working hard on new crocheting projects. Two weeks ago, I heard that a friend and I got a stand on the ‘We love summerfestival’ in Dordrecht this Saturday (30th of June)! You find the event on this facebook page.

The market is from 12:00 till 21:00h and there is also music, a colourrun and many more things to do! For this market we made some new summer items, but also some classic amigurumi’s that you can find back on my blog. I will post the new items soon!

He is standing in my windowsill for quite a while already, because unfortunately I didn’t have time to share it with you earlier. So, here he is: The cutest monster from the book ‘Amigurumi & Monsters’ written by Tessa van Riet-Ernst! I wanted to finish some colours that I still had, therefore I ignored the instructions for the required yarn. This resulted in a green tail and feet, but it doesn’t look that weird right? In the end I used 50 grams of blue and a bit of green and white yarn on crochet needle 2.5mm. The little bear was a perfect addition to this amigurumi. I’m sure I will find a nice spot for this amigurumi:) I also made the bat and pumpkin from this book already, you find them here.

I made this striped babyvest with the freen pattern from evehaakje (Dutch pattern). It is a really nice project to finish up some remaining yarn, but pay attention: you have to sew off a lot of dreads! I made the vest with 100% cotton with crochet needle 3mm, resulting in size 80-86. I needed about 100 grams of white cotton and 20 grams of cotton for each of the 5 colors.

I wanted to use wooden buttons, but unfortunately I didn’t have them at home. I did have brown plastic buttons and I think they also fit very well. It is always handy to have a stock! Have you made this vest yourself already? I am really curious to see the result!

This week I made clothing and accessories for a dollhouse with Sonny Angel dolls. I made it on order, so I hope I will make a little girl very happy! You can buy the basic pattern for the jumpsuits and the dresses here (pay attention, Dutch pattern!). I made several variations on the dresses and jumpsuits, it was very fun to do! Further, I started knitting again since at least 15 years (right top in the picture). I still have to practice a bit, but the first item is made!

I didn’t use a pattern to make the carpets, pouf and basket, but I invented it myself. If there is a request, I will write down the patterns and make them available in my Etsy shop: LisebeCreative2. I am curious to know what you think and if you also made clothing and accessoiries for a dollhouse yourself? Leave a reaction below!

I’ve made this cute little skirt for the two-years old daugther of a friend of mine. I haven’t used a specific pattern, but you can find some of the stitches in the pattern of the ‘Crochet Along 2014’ project. You can find the post here. You start with making a chain of stitches and you close it with a slipstitch. Measure the hips of the child to see how big the circle has to be. Now you make tours with different colours and stitches (for example a row with single crochets, double crochets, star stitch etc.) after every two tours you increase with 3 stitches.

You make the border by crocheting 7 treble crochets in the 3rd stitch from the crochet needle, you skip 2 stitches and make a slip stitch. Then you repeat. I printed the pattern for the flower a long time ago and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find it back online. For this reason, I uploaded a picture of the pattern below. If you know where to find the online version of this pattern, please let me know and I will add the link!

Perhaps you are wondering what Great Western Trail is. Well, today I want to show you another big hobby of mine: boardgames! My boyfriend and I are fanatical players and collectors and our collection is growing quite fast already. Sometimes there are a lot of small wooden or cardboard pieces in modern boardgames and this is also the case with the boardgame ‘Great Western Trail’. In this game you have to pick cardboard tiles with the numbers 1 till 3 in a random way during several rounds in the game. Taking a tile at random is quite difficult if bags are lacking in the game..

The solution was very easy. I took my sewing machine and I used strong linen fabric to make small bags. I also painted the logo’s of the tiles on it, to make them fit within the theme of the game. A practical solution and the proof that you can combine two hobby’s easily!

This colourful baby vest was the first clothing piece I’ve ever made. It was a lot easier than I expected, so everyone could make it even if you just started crocheting! The pattern is free (but in Dutch!) and you can find it on Wolplein, click here. The vest is made with yarn from Grundl, that you can buy in the shop ‘Boekenvoordeel’. You could also order it online, on this website. I needed 4x50g of this yarn + some remaining yellow cotton for the pompon and the border. I used crochet needle 4.5mm and I sewed 4 orange wooden buttons on it.

There is a Code Orange here in the Netherlands, who had expected that?! I wasn’t prepared for it at all. This morning I checked every possibility to reach work, but the traject Utrecht-Leiden was apparently an impossible one. Thus I’m unexpectedly home today! Yesterday we already enjoyed the beautiful white streets and trees and today it will become even more beautiful:) When we are done walking and building snowmen, what would be nicer than drinking a cup of tea while crocheting?

This is how this cute penguin amigurumi was made. I used the book ‘Crocheting Pluis & her little friends’ from Tessa van Riet-Ernst. I decided to use normal cotton yarn, and not the brushed variant. I also thought it would be nice to make a pompon on the hat. What are you gonna make during these white winterdays? I look forward to see your projects!

This year I decided to make the classic snowflakes again. It is extremely relaxing to make them and the result is really satisfying. You can give them away as a present or decorate your own home or christmas tree with it, multifunctional right? You can buy these christmas snowflake hangers in my Etsy shop: LiseBeCreative2